Chapter 9
Charlie
T he first thing the hipster lumberjack did was to go alien on me. My brain blanked, but then Dana laughed, and that released some of the tension from me. Enough to move, at least.
I stood and felt a bit like one of those critters that froze in front of a predator. Like if they didn’t move a muscle, maybe the big bad didn’t notice them.
Dana said something about the guy’s Regan and doing deliveries, and he just stared at me. I scrambled for something to say and fled.
I dashed inside, running straight into the office and closing the door behind me. I leaned back to it, my breathing stabilizing a bit too slowly for my liking. I needed even more distance and the big window right next to the door where the front desk sat wasn’t doing me any favors, so I went through to Nic and Dana’s room and sat on the edge of the platform their bed stood on.
Leaning forward, I put my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. Then I just breathed for a moment. I was calming down, but something about this guy unsettled me.
Logically, I could tell he wasn’t dangerous, but my lizard brain that had been yelled at in the tone he’d used in the store was slow to settle.
“Hey, Glasses, what’s wrong?” Nic came to me as soon as she was through the door.
She smelled of fresh paint and there was a smudge of something blue or maybe dark green on her cheek, but I still let her wrap her arms around me.
“The guy,” I managed. “From the store. He’s here.”
“What?” The snap in her voice made me twitch, and she immediately squeezed me again. “Sorry, sorry, honey. Whoever he is, we’re going to sort this out.”
“Yeah, okay.”
She patted my back, then went to the door to open it. I wasn’t sure what happened next, but she let out this mama bear sound, and I jumped up to go after her.
I heard her question the man and part of his answer. I moved through the office to peer out into the lobby.
Nic stepped between me and him, which was kind of amusing, because she was tiny compared to either of us. I reached for her shoulder. “It’s okay, Sweetie.”
And then he nearly mauled me with a… pastry box? He showed me what was inside the box, and talked about this Regan person who was apparently the baker.
I barely registered Nic and Dana vanishing, but I felt like they wouldn’t go far.
I let him explain, and yeah, it did make a lot of sense. Hell, I could picture my brother doing the same exact thing. It seemed like this guy was a protector just like Blue. When Teague introduced himself, I relaxed more. It was a nice name. The heat of his bigger hand around mine was scorching and not entirely unpleasant. And then he said the words.
I felt the icky feeling that made me want to shed my skin and just not look like this again, stronger than I had in a while.
Sometime later, I found myself sitting where Nic had found me earlier, with the little pastry box sitting on my knee. I wasn’t sure what I’d told Teague, how I’d escaped, but here I was.
My knobby knee started to look knobbier than usual, so I took the box and put it on the step next to me. Sighing, I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to make sense of everything. Anything.
“He’s not a bad guy,” Nic said quietly as she slipped through from the office.
“No, I know.” And I did know. He seemed like he was a bit awkward, that was all. Combined with his size, people must’ve gotten him wrong on occasion; I didn’t think I was that unique.
“No, I mean that he really is one of the good ones, Charlie. He just says the wrong thing occasionally without meaning to. There’s not a mean bone in that man’s body. We wouldn’t have him around otherwise.” She stood in front of me and poked the box with her index finger. “And he gave you his Unicorn Fart. I bet his sibling gave it to him as payment.”
“Sibling?”
“Yeah, Regan. They’re AFAB, but I don’t know what kind of language they prefer so… sibling.”
I nodded slowly. Why the fact that this Regan person wasn’t Teague’s significant other mattered, I didn’t know or want to examine closer, but it did matter.
“Are they that good?”
“Regan is a bit magical,” Nic said, smirking.
There was something in the smirk that I remembered from years back, but I didn’t have the energy to think about it further.
“Okay.”
“He left, by the way. So, it’s safe to go have breakfast now.” She gave me her patented best friend smile that was gentle and kind, and I hated and loved it in equal measure.
“Okay.”
“You need to eat, Glasses. So go have your breakfast, then grab some coffee and sit down with your cupcake. Come find me when you’re done with all that. I’m painting room seven.”
“Okay.” Before she could scold me, I added, “I’ll eat.”
“Good.”
She went out through the back door of their place, and I sighed. I really did need to eat. Nic and Dana both knew my issues with anxiety and food. Sometimes I just didn’t feel like eating if I was too upset. Her pushing me gently meant everything, and I didn’t want to let her down.
I left my Unicorn Fart—I snorted softly at the name—on the desk that would be mine come tomorrow and went through to the lobby. There was an older couple coming in, and I stopped to let them go into the dining room before me.
They were staying in one of the rooms, and it didn’t surprise me to see older people being the first ones up for breakfast.
I lingered by the doors as they went in, waiting for them to go through the motions of getting their drinks and food from the trays lined up by the far wall.
Once they were at the end of the line, I went to start from the drinks and got myself juice and coffee. Then I went to pick a table by the kitchen doors, since the couple went to a window table. I didn’t want to socialize, and they seemed like the socializing type.
Dana came out to swap trays a couple of times, giving me quizzical eyebrows each time. I smiled a little, feeling the love especially in the fact that she didn’t ask, just waited to see if I wanted to talk. Which I didn’t, and she was busy anyway.
By the time I was done eating and got myself a mug of coffee, two more roomfuls of guests had arrived.
I made my way back to the office and sat behind the desk. I could see myself liking it here in so many ways.
I agreed to Nic and Dana’s terms. Of course I did. I’d loved Nic for so long, that all she needed to do was to turn her Sweetie Eyes at me—I swear they were patented—and I caved. Damn woman knew how to pull all my strings, just like my brother did. And his kids. Yeah. Maybe there was a pattern between me and the people I loved.
Nic told me that they would let me do whatever I wanted with the office, as long as everything was neat and organized and safe for everyone, including the guests. She pointed at the small piece of paper tacked to the wall next to the front desk where visitors couldn’t see it that said “NEVER give guest information to ANYONE.”
I hadn’t thought of that being an issue, but I could immediately come up with a couple of scenarios where I wouldn’t want someone to know where I was. People ran away from situations all the time. Hell, look at Teague’s nephew. I bet he didn’t want his parents to know where he was, yet there we were.
I stayed at the Inn until dinnertime. They hosted a Sunday Dinner every week, kind of a comfort food but make it fancy—Dana’s words—thing, and the place was packed enough for me to take my food to go. Nic was hustling around the dining room with a middle-aged woman who had to be Cora, their only regular employee.
She seemed like the motherly type, which was equally nice and creeped me out for very personal reasons. There was another person, a teenaged girl, who came in on as many evenings as she could. When she wasn’t there, Nic took care of the slack, and I could already tell she was exhausted. They definitely needed to add staff.
I saluted Nic as I walked out of the kitchen, then made my way out and up the road toward the cabins. Cricket appeared from the shadows and walked with me, occasionally butting her head against my thigh as if to ask what the really good smelling stuff in my take-out bag was.
“Not for you, girlie. I think your moms wouldn’t like me feeding you fancy mac and cheese.”
She sighed, making me laugh at how much she sounded like Steve, who I’d left snoozing by the front door as usual.
The evening time woods felt different than daytime. There were sounds and smells I didn’t recognize yet, but since Cricket was calm, I wasn’t scared.
When we got to my cabin, I opened the door and turned to her. “Thanks for the escort, girl. If this becomes a habit, I need to get some dog biscuits to keep here. Pay you for your service.”
She wagged her tail as if understanding what I was saying, then turned and ambled over to the next cabin, sniffing at the ground.
There were lampposts sprinkled along the road between the cabins and the motel, and I appreciated them a lot. The tall trees surrounding the pond and cabins made the space feel darker.
Shivering a little, I turned on the porch light and closed the door behind myself.
I kicked off my shoes and took my dinner to my tiny little table. By the time I had everything set on a plate and had a drink, I changed my mind and went to sit on the couch. I put my feet on the coffee table—oh how my mother would’ve hated that—and grabbed the remote.
The channels were limited, and the reception wasn’t awesome for anything through the internet, but Nic was working on those things in due time. I found a random nature documentary that didn’t seem like the baby-animals-being-eaten-alive kind and settled with my dinner.
As I ate, my mind wandered to the amazing cupcake. I needed to go into town one day to buy myself some. Oh, and Nic and Dana, because they’d skin me if they saw a hint of that frosting anywhere without getting their own Unicorn Farts.
Of course, my brain went to Teague next. Even through the freak out, I’d felt something… calming radiating off him. His energy was so steady, that I guess the universe had decided to balance things by giving him a mouth that blurted out things before he could complete the thought first.
Blue had been like that as a kid. Always talking, oftentimes getting in trouble when he didn’t have time to backpedal fast enough. He’d calmed down around his mid-teens and channeled his powers into making sure I was okay even more than he had before that.
I should call my brother. But he’d know from my voice that something had happened, and I didn’t want to explain Teague to him like this. Not when I felt like there was more to the big guy with the flannel shirt and twinkling eyes.
I’d rather give Law the whole story of who Teague was, not just the shitty first impressions that made me run like the headcase I was. Besides, now that I knew Teague would be around every morning, I had a choice to make; I’d either wait until I knew he was gone, or I’d go in at a regular time and risk seeing him.
I wasn’t a coward. Not that way anyway. I liked to start my workdays early, and since the deal was that I’d get breakfast first and then could start my work in the office after, I knew I’d bump into Teague.
Right after I’d finished my meal, my phone rang.
“Hey, Law,” I said, already expecting the conversation I didn’t want to have happening anyway.
“Hey. So, I need a favor.” He sounded tired as fuck.
“What’s wrong, Blue?” I sat up straight.
“It’s Tristan. He’s got a cold and he’s miserable, and he wants his Uncle Charlie.”
“Oh, that sweet baby. Sure, whatever you guys need.”
“Let me take the phone to him and we can turn on the video?” I could hear him moving through their house toward Tristan’s room.
“Of course.” I curled up on the couch and settled in.
Two minutes later, I was staring at a five-year-old who looked tired and sad.
“Hi, Uncle Charlie,” he whispered.
“Hi, buddy. Are you feeling poorly?” I asked, smiling at his miserable little face as I used his favorite word for feeling sick that he’d heard in some UK kids’ show on YouTube.
“Yeah,” he breathed. “I cannot sleep.”
“How about I tell you a story? Would that help?”
“Okay.”
“Bud? I’ll go check on the girls; you listen to Uncle Charlie for a bit, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy.”
“So, want to hear a story about a big dog called Cricket who met squirrels and rabbits in the woods?”
Tristan’s eyes brightened but not enough for him to get hyper, which was a possibility with a too-exciting story at bedtime.
“Yeah!” he gasped.
“Settle in. Where’s Carrot?”
“He’s right here.” He rummaged around for the orange bunny stuffie, then dropped the phone in the sheets as he curled up. “Oops!” The exhausted giggle was everything I hadn’t known I’d needed right then.
“Ready?”
“Ready!”
“Okay. Once upon a time, there was a really big dog called Cricket. She was big and fluffy, and she liked to walk around the woods next to her home, because she liked to smell all the things….”